~Welcome to DeluxeVille~

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

I have always had a special spot in my heart for old trucks. Nothing beats a beat up old truck in my opinion....except for maybe a convertible shoebox Ford! Yankee Dave also is very fond of old trucks and has quite a few in his collection he is hauling home to put in his newly built pole barn.

Stewie is a 1952 International and was what Yankee Dave first learned to drive a clutch on. Stewie was being used to store things on in a barn for a long time and I think he's kinda pissed about it because he refuses to turn over anymore and Yankee Dave was hauling him around with his farm tractor.

We need to put Stewie back together again and get him running! Perhaps he will be a Winter project? I think he'll be much happier living in Yankee Dave's new garage.

Big George is a 1944 General Motors COE. He is also painted my favorite color and I'm hoping to give him a wax and try and preserve the awesome patina on the outside! As you can see, George has been stored away in a barn for a really long time. He was last inspected in 1969 and had a previous life on an orchard, hauling fruit to market. George has a top speed of 45 miles per hour...so it probably took all day to get those apples to market in the 1940's!

George was to big for the car trailer and came home in style on the back of Yankee Dave's friend's hauler... Makes Big George look, well, tiny!

It was quite the show to see! George still runs after all these years but needs some new breaks and a gas tank. Lets just say mason jars make handy little gas tanks!

Are you keeping count of what's in Yankee Dave's garage??!! It's getting crowded in here!

Saturday, July 29, 2017

2017 has been an awesome year so far for my obsession with Heywood Wakefield furniture! I however, have not made any of these scores from estate sales or public auctions like I use to. Surprisingly, I have gotten some great deals using sites like Facebook Market Place, Craigslist, and even Ebay! And as always, I love, love, love my little red truck Ruby!

Back in February Yankee Dave ran across an ad on Facebook Market Place that someone was selling retro 1950's bedroom furniture. This was probably my 2nd best deal ever on a complete set of Hey-Wake furniture...the first being this one...Hey-Wake Auction Find.

We bought this 5 piece set of Hey-Wake from a young woman who was no longer living at home with her parents any longer and wanted to sell the set in her old room at her parent's house. The set belonged to a great Aunt or someone of that nature who had bought it in the 1950's.

The pieces are in beautiful condition and we are thrilled to add these pieces to our growing collection! The set also included a night stand, large his and her dresser, and a head board.

I've been looking for a wishbone/whalebone table for some time now and was able to find one on Ebay that was local for a good deal in June! It came with two stingray chairs and 4 dogbone chairs. It's smaller in size and the perfect fit for our little dining room.

Friday, July 14, 2017

My fella just built a huge pole barn on the property this past Winter and has been spending the Spring gathering together all of his precious collections that have been being stored in various buildings at his parent's home. So far this past Spring, he's been coming home with truck loads of various old car parts and pieces for this and that build project he plans to do someday. So, I didn't think much of it when he took off one Saturday with the car trailer telling me he was off to pick up another car....this one being the 1955 Pontiac he bought when he was 16 and had been in storage and not running since 1998. Alrighty then, I thought, another rusty project car to add to the rusty car project list!

(some of the rusty projects)

So, just imagine my surprise when he pulls into the driveway hauling this...

HEY! Wait a minute here...he's been holding out on me...why it's not rusty at all! It's BEAUTIFUL!

And it runs! Now it doesn't have any breaks, needs some new upholstery and tires, but all that is relatively minor and I guess I'll be learning about breaks if I want to drive it!

Not at all bad for sitting in a barn since 1998! Hmmm, I wonder what he'll be bringing home next?

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Forgive me DeluxeVille readers for I have sinned, it's been about 5 months since my last confession! Not to worry, life is well and things have been extremely busy around these parts. I spent the last several months readying my house for the real estate market and finally got it listed in May. I was under contract 8 short days later and I will be having settlement in July! I am super excited to be letting go and moving on from my little place that I've had for almost 15 years. Once again DeluxeVille is moving on and this time permanently! Thank you universe for your blessing this time!

So I guess the question y'all are asking is... where will DeluxeVille be moving onto? Well after much talk with my fella, we have decided that DeluxVille will be opening up shop in the 1957 Liberty mobile home! If you scroll down, you will see the post I did on painting the outside of the trailer.

Lots of landscaping has been going on around here. We took the big diseased Maple tree down in front of the trailer last Fall and needed to do some planting come Spring. With the help of my favorite plant parking lot sale, we were able to gather and plant quite a bit of different perennials.

Since we haven't even began the renovation of the inside of DeluxeVille yet, we've been spending some of the dog days of Summer lounging on the front porch. Our pup Sampson gives it two paws up and wants everyone to know anyone can come sit with him as long as you give good scratches!

If you remember back many years ago, you will know, I had experimented with having a booth space in an antique mall. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work to try to make my rent every month! I've been thinking about getting back into the vintage selling game again for quite sometime but just couldn't seem to justify the cost of renting another booth space. After much talk with the fella, we've come to the decision that the perfect place to have a little vintage shop with almost zero overhead would be in the vintage 1957 Liberty trailer that's on the property. After all, we were planning on renovating it anyway for our own use, why not just make it a home business instead of a guest house?

I won't even begin to tell you about the amount of work that will need to be done inside. It's been sitting vacant since the mid eighties and for the last six years my fella has been using it as storage. It's not in awful shape by any means but we will need to replace flooring and fix some walls. There is still tons of original 1957 charm in there! Now that the work has been done and my house has been sold, this little gem will be where I'll be spending my evenings for awhile.

Friday, February 10, 2017

So the other week I spied this awesome vintage sign coming up for sale at an auction! OMG!!! It was just what I was looking for to complete my chicken coop.

How amazing is that sign I thought! I must drive my butt off to this auction and buy this fricken cool ass sign. So I loaded up my truck with my side kicks and off we went for a road trip to buy a sign!

Woof! Not amused.

But buy a sign we did! It was such a large sign, the fella had to build a special wooden frame for moving it. Have you figured out yet that my guy likes building things?? And I just happen to be really good at making a list of things that need to be built. Can I just say we high five each other a lot!

Can this sign be any more perfect for my rusty salvaged chicken coop? I think not. We hung this up and high fived each other as we stood back and looked at it.

I'm one very pleased chicken rancher! My chickens on the other hand could care less about the design of their humble abode. No high fives from them.

Of course this whole picture is currently covered in about 5 inches of snow. Hurry up Spring!

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Like a little squirrel getting ready for Winter, I've been spending the last year or so, scouring Craigslist for mid-century goodies. I have discovered that house flippers are my favorite people and I'm always happy when they try to salvage and sell off or give away the old house items they no longer feel are fashionable. Though I personally hate when cool old houses are updated to a more "modern" state for resale purposes, I'm always happy to try to get my hands on these discarded items!

We were tipped off about this mid-century Cadillac of bathroom vanities by one of our friends who was perusing the free stuff section of Craigslist. Did you say free? Yup! And believe me when I say, I was on it like white on rice.

It has two original pink Kohler sinks and the original boomerang laminate is still in really nice condition. As you can see this was a custom built piece and came out of a mid-century ranch home built in 1955. The rest of the original pink bathroom fixtures were still in the house, this vanity was removed upon advice given by the realtor to help sell the property. The vanity was stored in the garage and the new home owners just wanted it gone and knew that someone might see value in it. We were happy to come and take it off their hands!

Even the interior shelves and door have the boomerang laminate!

My favorite is the built in hamper in the center of the vanity that tilts out. Not very big but still does the job!

This Satin Glide mirror, light and shelf set was another victim of a house flip. I gladly scooped this up for $50. It was however missing it's matching vanity. I'm on the look out for a second one!

I knew I really wanted my master bathroom to have his and her sinks and these two 1957 American Standard Dresslyn sinks were exactly what I had in mind at the time. When I originally saw the post and responded to it, I was to late and was told they were gone. A few weeks later I was contacted out of the blue by the poster who said they were left behind and if I wanted them, I could come get them. Trust me, I still wanted them! This poster was also flipping a house and they were kind enough to allow me to do some dumpster diving in their dumpster, in which I found the matching pink toilet!

We also picked up this cute little 1949 Frigidaire stove from the same person. We brought it home, cleaned it up and stuck it in our kitchen in the cottage apartment. Works great and goes really well with the already existing metal kitchen cabinets.

It's probably going to be awhile yet till We get to the bungalow house renovations and I'll get to put everything into place. Our next renovation on the agenda is the 1957 Liberty Mobile Home! Have you found anything good on Craigslist lately?

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Let me introduce you to the newest member of the family...Sampson! For awhile I've been talking to the fella about wanting a dog and to make a long story short he was out one day and found this little guy who was in need of a new home.

Sampson is quite the people loving little guy and so, he works out perfectly coming to work with me everyday, as I run a program for elderly individuals who have a form of dementia and need memory support. He is the perfect therapy dog, not only for my clients but also for my hardworking staff and myself. Everyone absolutely adores him. He sits on laps, knows how to avoid walkers and wheelchairs, calms anxieties, snuggles in beds, entertains, is patient, triggers good memories, is a quiet presence, gives kisses, and in general creates smiles. He gives LOVE and is LOVED.
He's been adjusting really well to all seven of our cats. Not an easy task for a new member of the family that's not of the cat species. He is turning into a mama's boy and is my constant companion. I have bestowed upon him his new nickname Samspoon as his favorite past time is cuddling in bed.
Not only am I lucky enough to be able to bring my dog to work with me everyday, but there is also a great walking trail two feet from my building that's dog friendly. So, Sampson and I get to hit the walking path daily for a bit of mid-day exercise.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have a dog in my life again. But of course not just any dog, Sampson is really one of a kind and I'm so lucky to have him.
See ya soon!
~MaryDeluxe & Samspoon

About Me

Hello! I'm MaryDeluxe aka Betsy! Been writing this here blog for years. Talk about ups and downs...You'll find it all here! But some things always remain the same...I'm still lovin vintage and staying sassy! I love DIY projects and adventures with my fella Yankee Dave and my always faithful sidekick Sampson!